Charitable Grant
by Amaya-Ai
Summary: When Reiner moves out of their apartment to live with his girlfriend Christa, Levi is having a hard time paying his rent. He, literally, runs into a young man named Armin, who may be his saving grace. Or is he? Maybe it's actually his bratty little friend, Jaeger.
1. Saving Grace

**A/N: Well, check it out. I've started a fanfiction. Let's be clear, this isn't my top priority, but I do really love this idea, so I'll try to write it between my other stories.**

**Rating: M (There will probably be sexual encounters later in the story)  
Pairings: Levi/Eren (This is the main pairing), Mild Levi/Armin (in that it can be read that way), Reiner/Christa, Armin/Jean, Eventual Armin/Bertholdt, Eventual Jean/Marco, Possible Connie/Sasha  
UM, also listen, I have no idea who to pair Mikasa with, so uh. You go ahead and either tell me what you want or imagine it up yourselves.**

**Enjoy the first chapter to Charitable Grant!**

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**Chapter 1:**

Son of a bitch, Levi hated people.

"Also, if we _do_ rent together, I have three cats - I hope you don't mind! I know it said no pets on your ad, but I'm _really_ desperate - I _can't_ get rid of them! You aren't actually going to- hey!"

Levi simply got up and left the coffee shop where he had met his once potential roommate. Levi could be patient if he really needed to be, and he _really_ needed to be, but he had sat there listening to her talk about her English major for over an hour before he'd asked about the room he was offering. Needless to say, she was not the roommate he was looking for.

He briefly looked down at the big black watch on his wrist that also displayed the date.

April 6th. Rent was due on May 1st. If only his friend Reiner hadn't suddenly moved out to live with his girlfriend, Christa, two weeks ago. The blond bastard could have at least give him some notice - no matter how intelligent the larger man was - he was so irrational sometimes.

Of course, Reiner wasn't _that_ much of an inconsiderate dick. He'd offered to pay his half this month as usual if Levi still needed the time, but the older of the two quickly declined. Secretly, his pride _had_ been a little... damaged - and of course, he didn't want his friend to think he was some loser who couldn't pay rent on his own.

That was aside from the fact that he was _the _loser who couldn't pay rent on his own.

In all reality, he probably _could_ pay his rent. He still had about $100 left from his last paycheck, and he was expecting about $400 from his part time job as a librarian. It paid him about $10 an hour simply because his adopted cousin, Hanji, who absolutely adored him, was the manager. Luckily, no one but him knew about that.

Rent was $450 - if he could conserve his food money of $50 until he could find a roommate - no. That was crazy. $50 might last him two weeks at the _most_ with his quiet, freeloading classmate, Bertholdt who came and went with his food without even saying hello sometimes.

He could ask Hanji for help. Only, that would mean getting babied by her and having her tease him about always being alone so he had no friends to room with.

That wasn't true. He _used _to have Reiner.

Levi shook himself out of his thought filled stupor. While thinking, he had begun the trek to his apartment, having opted out of driving in order to save gas. Why did he do this? Why didn't he just take out a larger student loan and live in the dorms like everyone else? No, he had to be unique. He had to be above everyone else and their co-ed shitty dorms. He had to be alone. He silently cursed himself.

It registered only a second too late. The FedEx logo getting closer and closer to his face. Then, there was a heavy weight on him and the clinking of glass and a voice so gentle and yet deep saying to him, "I'm so sorry! I'm _so_ sorry! I couldn't see over the boxes! I'm new - I don't know what I - sorry!"

The raven looked up to see a blond kid - maybe 19 at most, trying desperately to pick the box off of him while not breaking the contents. He had a haircut like a girl, and the mannerisms of a fumbling octopus, Levi noticed before he realized, wow, his tailbone had just twisted on cement. Ow.

"Why the hell are you - " Levi began as his back began to ache before the kid quickly cut him off.

"I don't know! I've never done this before! I've never even had a _job_ before, for Christ sake!"

Jesus. This kid was really going at it. Levi sighed tiredly.

"How even are you supposed to make money? Enough money to _live_?!"

That piqued his interest. "Money?"

"Yeah, _money_! I swore I would never let it get the best of me! This is insane. I can't. I can't m-"

"_Kid_. What's your name?"

"Armin Arlert!" the blond said, pulling at his hair in a panic that he had thrown himself into.

Mmm... gay. This kid's gay. Levi rose a brow. He supposed it couldn't be as bad as Reiner trying to show off to Christa at their place.

"What's the problem?"

"I can't pay my electricity bill! If I can't pay it, I'll die! I'll never be able to pass my classes because I'll never be able to turn my essays into my teachers' emails and Mikasa and Eren are already -"

"Want to be roommates?" Levi asked. He was beginning to become desperate enough to ask freshmen - or, probably freshmen college students to room with him. How the mighty have fallen.

Armin was silent. He picked up his boxes and carried them inside the bakery they were standing by. Levi stood awkwardly and looked around. Should he wait? He was no creep, but the kid hadn't exactly specified.

Lucky for him, the boy returned about two minutes later.

"Is there a deposit fee?"

Levi blinked. Stupid question - why would he be asking a random stranger to room with him if he didn't already have a fucking flat? People didn't do that. Dumb kid.

"No."

"How much is rent?"

"$450."

"Pets?"

"No."

"...Please?"

"_No_." Déjà vu.

"I have a cat."

"No, for Christ's sake, anything but cats."

"_Anything_?" Armin smiled to himself.

"No," Levi amended, quickly losing his patience.

"You know, I make $9.00 an hour."

Jesus, his mouth almost watered.

"You have to compromise to get what you want, you know," Armin said, grinning slyly.

Shit. He was absolute shit, and Levi was the maggots inside of that shit for saying, "Fine. _One_ cat."

Armin beckoned him to the FedEx truck across the road as he said, "We could get a hamster."

"I swear to God. You will have _one_ cat and you will be on the ground scrubbing _so_ fucking hard, the skin of your knees will wear away into nothingness."

They both got into the FedEx truck and Armin observed Levi for a moment as he started the engine.

Just before the blond asked for directions to the apartment, he spoke, "How do you feel about dogs? A small one - shed free?"

Levi could only glare out the window as the younger of the two chuckled.

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**A/N: Those twoooo. Alright, I'm wrapping it up. Review if you love me.**

**-Amaya**

**Edit: It has come to my attention that much like Armin, _I _never specified. This story will be told with the currency of USD - since that's the only currency I'm familiar with. I'm aware that many jobs are starting as high as $10-15/hour, but for someone who's never had a job, well, it'd just be strange to me to start him out with anything much higher than minimum wage, which is $7.25/hour.**


	2. Stumbling Fox

**A/N: The end will make you mildly angry, but I promise. It's not what you think. And besides. You guys are smart. You'll probably figure that out from the hint I drop earlier in the chapter. This one thousand word chapter. This INCREDIBLY short chapter. What I'm trying to say is, yeah, you'll get it.**

**Fun fact: This story is literally just named "for fuck sake" in my flash drive. Enjoy this chapter. Levi is more awkward than he looks in the anime, and no one will make me believe otherwise.**

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**Chapter 2:**

The delivery gone wrong had been Armin's last one of the day. He brought Levi with him when he dropped off the truck to change out of his work clothes and get into his car, and old beat up 2000 intrepid.

"Where do you live?" Armin inquired when his engine roared to life unhealthily. "Or, _we_."

"Corner of Hannes and Canston, building 601."

"Those big brick apartments? Those are nice!"

They_ were_ fairly luxurious. In fact, their apartment was a three bedroom, two bathroom with a balcony. At the time Levi and Reiner had rented it, the landlord was desperate to fill the apartment to meet her own bills, hence his relatively low fee.

The raven watched the buildings fly by, Armin's quick but careful driving making him feel safe.

"I don't actually have a cat," Armin relented after a full minute of silence. "But I can get one, right?"

Levi glared out the window. "Weren't you stressing about money just fifteen minutes ago?"

"We can look for a cat we both like!" Armin ignored his remark and grinned, eyes shining with genuine hope.

Levi simply grunted, neither an affirmative nor a negative. The sound of a well-updated phone chimed. Armin took out an iPhone from his skinny jeans pocket.

"Eren," he said before turning to Levi. "Do you mind?"

Levi _hated_ it when people used their phones while driving. "No."

The blonde picked up the phone. "Eren," he repeated.

Levi briefly heard 'What took you so long?' followed by irritable rumblings he could not decipher.

"Whoa, what's with you? Mikasa beat you in practice again?"

Levi tuned out the conversation from then on and instead listened to the blinker as Armin pulled into his parking lot.

It wasn't until they'd gotten to the outer door that Levi realized Armin was addressing him.

"- and eat, too?"

"Um, what?" Levi muttered. It sounded like 'Eren' was still on the line when he heard a small voice saying, 'Well? He coming or not? I bet you're dating. Are you -'

Armin covered the speaker and spoke into the receiver, "You swine. Give me a second." He turned fully toward Levi at that moment. "A couple of my friends and I are going to eat at Royal Fork tonight. Come with."

'_HE WANTS YOUR D_,' he heard Eren say before Armin fumbled to cover the speaker more tightly. Closing his eyes and sighing, Levi relented. Annoying brat, the kid on the other line was so loud.

"Yes. I'll go," he wanted to say no, but anything beat sitting around at home preparing for _classes_ to start.

"Yeah, he said. Be there at 7," Armin finally told the boy on the other line, not even saying goodbye before hanging up. "Okay, show me around."

He opened the first door with ease and made quick work of the lock on the second door, keys jangling on his lanyard, leading Armin up the steep, carpeted staircase.

"What's the apartment number?"

"43."

Armin noticed immediately when they walked by a metal door on the third floor. "That's an elevator. Why didn't we take it?"

"They don't work. They haven't been working for months," Levi grumbled, containing the rant of the century. Day after day, he trudged up three flights of stairs, sometimes with luggage, and sometimes soaked with rainwater. It had gotten old long ago, but the maintenance team never fixed it.

The two made it up the last flight and three doors down to the right was Levi's apartment, which he swiftly unlocked.

The apartment was spacious with hardwood floors that glistened with well-cleaned wax. There was no entryway, but there was a large bay window across from the entrance to the kitchen where a table took most of the space.

"You can pick a room. Reiner's is better taken care of but the other is bigger." Levi began leading the blonde down the dark hallway adjacent to the kitchen's walkway. He showed Reiner's old room, depressingly empty save for a picture of a woman in practically nothing molesting a motorcycle on the wall, at which Armin spoke.

"The other one?"

"You gay?" Levi asked.

The blonde looked mildly offended, what with the downturn of his brows and blush on his face, but he just sounded embarrassed when he said, "Would it be an issue if I was?"

No, it's not a problem around here, Levi tried to say, but all that came out was, "Just don't assram too loudly."

Armin squeaked. "We -no! I'm still -"

"Shut up, shitty geek. Here's the next room."

It _was _much larger, but paint was chipping off the wall and some carpet was popping up from the floor.

"I like the other one better."

"Then take it. I live in there," Levi gestured to the master bedroom wherein the balcony and second bathroom was attached, in the darkest corner of the hall. "Here is a tip for entering my room: Do not enter my room. Also, there's the shared bathroom. It's practically yours," he stated, gesturing to the open door across from his bedroom door.

Armin nodded once before his phone went off again. "It's 6:30," he said when he looked at it. "Let's go meet those two."

* * *

The restaurant was empty enough to be comfortable but occupied enough to benefit the owner. The new pair was the first of the group to get there, so they reserved the booth.

There's no way you've been able to pay that apartment's rent all by yourself," Armin began when they sat down to wait. "What happened to your old roommate?"

He's an asshole who runs out on his friends, Levi thought, but he only said, "He left."

"Why?"

"He wanted to live with his woman."

Armin balked. "And he left you with all that rent to pay?"

Struck with the sudden urge to defend Reiner's case at the tone of Armin's voice despite his thoughts an instant earlier, Levi blurted, "He offered to pay his half this month."

"Oh. Why didn't you take it if you needed it so bad?"

Levi was silent, and with no where else to look, he stared intensely down at the tablecloth. Mind your own business, he wanted to say, but nothing came out of his mouth.

"You can't have been too proud at such a desperate time?"

"Shut the hell up, stupid kid," Levi snapped. Armin, apparently used to the verbal abuse, was not very affected, but the look in his eyes made Levi wish he could take it back.

"Sorry, I didn't -" Armin started.

Levi cut him off. "No." There was no apology, but Armin seemed to comprehend his meaning. Levi thought at that moment that being roommates with Armin wouldn't be so hard.

"Did my textbook come in?" a voice interrupted their understanding. It was familiar to the short raven, now.

Armin chuckled. "Eren, I can't just specifically track your package."

Ha, package, Levi immediately thought. "Armin, I'm straight," the boy replied, gesturing for the blonde to scoot over. Finally, Levi was addressed. "Hi. I'm Eren. My friend wants _your_ package."

"Oh my God. Eren, grow up."

"What an audacious brat," Levi spoke, not even bothering to be polite. The kid was taller than he thought he'd be, but he had big, greenish blue eyes that made up for Levi's bitterness about his own height.

"Kidding, kidding. What's your name?"

Armin looked relieved when he relaxed and said, "Levi."

"Levi," the kid repeated. His name was velvet on the boy's lips. "Nice to meet you. Sorry. Teasing Armin is just so much fun." He elbowed the blonde, who blushed and looked away.

Oh. It was like _that_.

It was strange. Levi had never found beauty in another man before.

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**A/N: I promise promise promise you this is not a love triangle story. I promise you. This is a story about Levi's social skills. And trying to get into Eren's pants while being being a graceful, majestic unicorn at the same time.  
**

**-Amaya**

**P.S. I am endlessly infatuated with Armin in skinny jeans. And with he and Eren's friendship.  
P.P.S. Chapter 3 is underway. **


End file.
